Introduction
Hello and welcome to my Freestyle Academy website! My name is Sierra Prochniak, and I am a second-year film student and a senior at Mountain View High School. I have always been drawn to creative hobbies and artistic expression, however as I got older I found myself drifting towards filmmaking, which is a skill I am grateful to say Freestyle has greatly helped me improve.
Although I’ve learned about a multitude of filmmaking styles at Freestyle, I am very drawn to creative storytelling. I love film mode messages, subtleties about characters’ relationships through color palette or blocking, or allusions to other media. I have also discovered a love for editing, especially experimental editing–while I’ve only used Adobe Premiere Pro I hope to learn DaVinci Resolve to better my color grading. In my last semester at Freestyle, my film teacher Mr. Taylor has helped me realize these skills are combined in the role of an Art Director in the Film industry, which I am interested in pursuing.
For my Zenith project, I studied what Art Directors do and created three proof of pitches, potential films I would want to create in the future based on their look and feel. For my Showcase Project, I would like to recive feedback on these pitches. I am looking for insight on what I need to change to pitch these ideas professionally, as well as feedback on how my production and film mode storytelling/editing contributed to the pitch.
Please see my showcase video below, where I go into further depth about these select pitches. Thank you for taking the time to review my work, and I look forward to hearing your feedback! To contact me, please email sierra.prochniak@gmail.com.
Also included below is my reel–it features a collection of works I am incredibly proud of and feel demonstrate my range as a filmmaker.
Reflection
I can’t begin to express how formative attending Freestyle has been for me. I initially joined film as someone who was only experienced in traditional art, but it took only a few days into the program for me to realize I had found something I was incredibly drawn to. Filmmaking combined my interests in storytelling through creative writing, color theory and moods in physical art, and empathy in life’s nature. Freestyle has granted me drive to develop a new skill, storytelling through a cinematic lens. Mr. Taylor’s film class has pushed me to excel in time management, especially on long-term creative projects, and helped me work with others.
I am really excited to take what I’ve learned at Freestyle further. Next year I will be attending the University of California, Santa Cruz as an undeclared major, but I’m confident I will take film classes there and potentially double major in Film. Either way, I will seek out film projects throughout Santa Cruz. I am interested in working in the film industry (hopefully as an Art Director) but I hope to continue making films wherever life takes me!
My biggest takeaway from my experience at Freestyle is how much I’ve used the skills I’ve developed in this program to help others. Whether taking a friend’s senior photos, or producing a documentary about my school’s Special Education program, I hope to continue supporting other people through my work.